Love Means Nothing to a Princess
by Neil-o
Summary: Four years of emotional and mental recovery have lead Princess Peach to the Nimbus Open where she hopes on making a comeback and getting her ranking back on track. Can her determination and her greed for points be enough to take the trophy?
1. STAR OPEN PREQUEAL

Love Means Nothing to a Princess

Prequeal

The green grass of Star Stadium had never been trampled on before than it had now. The patterns of dark and light green had now merged together with foot trails skidding pathways across them. The net that seperated the opposition was close to giving in as dark gray marks made their appearances known on the tape.

Unfortunately for Peach, it was do or die at this point and she was sweating bullets.

"Advantage Boo," the chair umpire announced.

'Get it together,' the Princess said to herself. 'Just get game point, and I can tiebreak this little punk'

Boo, who was known for his tricky spins, honed his skills after his embarassing fall to Birdo the previous year. No one loses to Birdo.

She looked across the court to look Boo in the eye, who in turn, gave her his signature laughter. Intimidation was one thing Peach never gave into, but at this current situation, that specific laugh was all it took to bring down her confidence.

'High margin of error,' she thought. 'High. Margin. Of. Error.'

She tossed the ball high into the air, purposely drifting it in front of her form. Her knees bent, her shoulders turned, her racquet dropped - it was now the moment of truth. Her eyes tightly came downward as her racquet rose up after the ball, swiftly kissing the top half portion and spinning it across the court. It sunk into the service square and peddled down the T-line.

'It's IN!' she let out in her head.

Boo rolled after it and returned it with a top spin lob.

'Crap!' Joy ended. 'He played it!'

The ball hit just beyond the service line but Peach anticipated the bounce to go beyond her. She began to hustle backwards, watching as the ball headed in her direction. Just as the ball reached her head level, she let out a ferocious crosscourt backhand that both neutralized the ball and placed her in the offensive. The ball sailed across the net and headed towards the ghost.

'Take that!' she thought out.

Boo held his racquet outwards and tapped the ball causing it to fly into the air. Peach kept her eye on the ball like a target and began to charge the net. The ball barely made it over the net and into the right service box, prompting Peach to take a swing. With both fists clenched unto the racquet, Peach let out a mighty forehand that drove the ball down the line and zooming past Boo.

"C'MON!' she yelled as she pumped her fist.

What seemed to be a celebration for keeping her nerves down was actually a moment of shock for audiences everywhere.

'What's the the matter?' she said.

"Net penalty."

"WHAT?!" Peach said. The words came out like vomit.

"Your racquet slammed into the net."

"It did NOT!"

"Watch."

She looked towards the big screen that captured the moment. It depicted her sprint across the court where she took a a swing at a forehand. The camera zoomed inward just a tad bit more, focusing on how the top part of her racquet clipped the tape of the net on the follow through.

"Match Boo," the umpire announced over the microphone." Seven games to six. Six games to seven. Seven games to five."

Peach dropped to her knees.

"What. The. Hell.." 


	2. CHAPTER 1: Miss Congeniality

Peach's accidental net touch made headlines in Mushroom Kingdom and caused a stirrup amongst its people. From newspapers, sports magazines, tabloids, and television - her racquet fluke was all over the place. It was the pure irony that drove the infamous act to its stardom since Peach's gameplay was like no other. She used two hands on both wings making swings more compact, struck the ball with perfect angles, was one of the cleanest hitters, and always reduced her errors. She simply couldn't understand what the big fuss was all about. It's not like she let out a wild forehand into the audience stands.

On top of that, her draw for the Star Open wasn't the easiest. She remembered letting out a sigh of grief as she acknowledged Donkey Kong, Yoshi, and the No. 1 seed, Mario in her bracket. However, it was her pure determination to win that kept her fighting and she led them all to their defeat. She clearly was an advocate of the mental aspects of the sport and it was shown throughout her career since she was seeded No. 2 in the tournament.

Ever since the incident at the Star Open, Peach's intensity had relinquished into mildness. Small, but major, tournaments following Star Open began to showcase her lack of confidence and stride as point after point of lackluster action turned into loss after loss. Soon, Peach's onscreen and offscreen appearances began to fade and she only made occasional appearances during charity events, most notably those that supported Goomba abuse, where she spoke at a podium about how remarkable the progression of the charity was becoming and then left. Soon enough, her special appearances, as well as herself, vanished from the public eye.

People questioned where on Mushroom Kingdom and even Mario World would Peach be. When asked, Peach's assistant and occasional doubles partner, Toad, would answer, "She's been deprived of happiness. Everyone's been giving her dirt and mud when she deserves diamonds and pearls." In fact, A conference was held by the Mushroom Kingdom Tennis Association to determine as to whether or not Peach's name would still be posted on the roster. She was no longer active in accumulating trophies, ranking points, and even prize money. In addition to this, Peach's rank plummeted and it would seem as if it would take forever for her to get back in track. This conference was attended by, once again, Toad who successfuly persuaded the committee to allow Peach's name to stay.

"Just you watch," Toad told them. "She'll make a comeback."

"Oh?" Questioned one of the representatives of Yoshi Isle. "She's practically DEAD!"

"She's not dead!" Toad exclaimed. "Just.. you know.. bed ridden."

Fast forward four years later.

Peach rested her back against a pillow that laid itself according to the head rest of her bed. The curtains were closed and displayed a sense of depression and anguish. She placed her head uncomfortably into the wall, not caring, and eyed the television screen. A dvd of her match with Baby Mario was being played.

"It really seems as if Peach has lost her edge," the commentator said. "This match is done for!"

Peach threw the ball into the air and lazily tapped the ball into the service square with a full frontal stance. There wasn't even an attempt of a knee bend, body pronation, or a back swing. It was as if she was giving the point to her opponent.

Baby Mario took off into a full sprint, his diapers practically about to drop to his ankles. He jumped upwards, following the ball's bounce, and swung. The racquet connected, but due to Baby Mario's small size, the ball's net clearance had a low margin of error. The ball smacked the tape of the net, jumped into the air and landed on the center T of the service boxes. Peach jogged for it and started her back swing.

Back in reality land, Peach's eyes were glued to her onscreen eyes. Her onscreen eyes dropped a squirt of uneasiness. This was when she remembered what happened againsted Boo at the Star Open.

Back to television world, Peach's two-handed low-to-high forehand backswing turned into a two-handed high-to-low-JUST-MAKE-IT-IN slice. The ball bounced right off the frame of Peach's racquet and went directly to the LEFT side of her net. The ball boy dove out of the way just in time.

"BARGH!" Peach groaned. It was a groan loud enough that made her canopy rumble. "WHAT IN THE WORLD WAS THAT?"

Her arms folded together and her chin rested on her chest with eyes closed. Tears began to form, but her eyes tightened and those drops were the last of them.

Then there was knocking on the door.

"Huh?" Peach came to her full attention and she hurried to turn the television off with a press of a remote control button. "Who is it?"

"Toadette."

"Hold on just a sec," she said. "Come in!"

The door opened and in skipped a little girl with pink hairs bounded in two braids. She struggled to keep her mushroom cap from falling but kept her youthful posture in check with her bright smile. It was the sight of Peach's gloomy face that made Toadette question her mood.

"You're not watching those videos again, are you?" Toadette questioned.

"No.." Peach lied. "Uh - maybe."

"See!" Toadette yelled which caused Peach to shriek in her bed. For a small girl, she had quite the vocals. "You're not over it! You told Toad and I that you were but you're still swimming around in tears!"

"Hey," Peach objected. "I don't cry that much."

"Really?" Toadette grabbed the remote, turned the television on, fast forwarded and played.

"Match point Birdo." the television rang out.

"You're so hurtful!" Peach erupted in tears by then. Toadette shook her head and covered her ears in an attempt to hold out all the wails of agony.

"Peach!" Toadette yelled. "Calm yourself!"

"How can I calm myself when all this negativity is occuring all around me!?" she screamed. "You're so hurtful! Baby Mario was good enough but BIRDO?! Yeah! You're pretty much Miss Congeniality, you moron." Soon, those droplets of tears turned into geysers. Then that geyser turned right into a waterfall.

"STOP!" Toadette yelled. Her sudden ferocious voice caused Peach to do so.

"Get out of bed," she commanded. "We're going to settle this once and for all."

"No!" Peach objected. "I don't WANT to! You can't make me!"

Toadette grabbed a hold of Peach's wrist and yanked. Peach's whole upper torso jolted in accordance to the yank and suddenly Toadette, the small woman of at least 3'5, had the upperhand. "C'mon!" she yelped.

"No! No! No!"

"OUT'CHA GO!" the last tug sent Peach flipping over the edge of the bed.

BAM!

"Oh geez," Toadette said under her breath. "You okay?"

"You're so hurtful!" Peach said. "So abusive.. why can't you just let me be?"

"Because." Toadette didn't even finish her reasoning and began to drag Peach out her bedroom quarters. Peach's screams and wails didn't even phase anybody because everyone in the castle was well aware what Toadette was getting Peach prepared for: a comeback. 


End file.
